The BIG 500 series metal work thread! (to be...)

I have seen several mentions of the various sheet-metal brakes here and was wondering what the consensus is for using these devices to make fairly precise rack chassis and other box type chassis.

It looks like there are a couple (24"?) of these multi-function devices available which perform shearing, bending, and rolling operations.

Thanks in advance,
jonathan

jsteiger said:

FWIW, Volker and I went in on a big batch of the blank L-brackets or "sleds", as they have been called. Sent in a PO early this morning. Should be about 3 weeks delivery. They will be 6061-T6 exactly like my VP2x brackets except no holes at all...anywhere. Left hand side will be brushed.

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Great initiative! Any idea on final price?

cheers

Mike

0dbfs said:

I have seen several mentions of the various sheet-metal brakes here and was wondering what the consensus is for using these devices to make fairly precise rack chassis and other box type chassis.

It looks like there are a couple (24"?) of these multi-function devices available which perform shearing, bending, and rolling operations.

Thanks in advance,
jonathan

Click to expand...

Not a big fan of them. I had a Grizzly and now a 30" Enco 3 in 1. I got it for next to nothing because the table was cracked. I repaired and added a 1/2" plate to reinforce it. I spent more on the nickel welding rod than I did on the machine, so I can't complain too much. The brake portion works adequately well, although not extremely accurate. The shear can distort very thin stock. The main problem is that they're only good for very thin materials, like 22ga or less, which is not stout enough.

mikefatom said:

Great initiative! Any idea on final price?

cheers

Mike

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Mike,

It looks like they will be $9 even at the store. Volker's will probably be a little more as he has the shipping from me to him to deal with. Since he and I are buying together, we were able to knock the price down a little bit, which is always key for all of us.

I had these quoted back in February after some conversations with Volker about this. We both got side tracked with other things and I kinda forgot about it until this thread!

Cheers, Jeff

That's beautiful Jeff!

Now I know where to get my 500 series proto brackets ;D

Thanks!

Mike

500/51x Blank Proto L-Brackets are finally in stock.



Product info at the store can be found here.

Volker will also have his supply in shortly. It may make more sense to buy from him, depending upon your location.

Just trying to make your life a little easier next go around Mike!    How are things going with your project? What did you decide for standoffs and stuff?

Cheers, Jeff 

uiuiui - nice pic Jeff
can't wait for the postman ;D

Looks like your package arrived at customs on the 30th Volker. Hopefully it won't be long now!

jsteiger said:

Just trying to make your life a little easier next go around Mike!    How are things going with your project? What did you decide for standoffs and stuff?

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Hello Jeff,

The brackets look fab! I decided to go with the 0.25" PEM nuts, which gave me 0.2" standoffs, after the 0.05" gets buried in the aluminum. It worked out beautifully!
I had a couple issues with one of the two metal shops I ordered the brackets from . Metalwork is a b*tch. The cheaper of the two places ended up with the better brackets  ???.

Cheers

Mike

mikefatom said:

...I had a couple issues with one of the two metal shops I ordered the brackets from . Metalwork is a b*tch. The cheaper of the two places ended up with the better brackets  ???.

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Oh, I feel your pain on this. Metal work is a royal pain in the arse!!! Sometimes I think shops shoot out high numbers because some of the stuff we do(however simple we may think it to be) is just to far from their normal products. Who knows for sure. It is sure not as simple as getting some boards produced! That is for sure.

Best, Jeff

yup - it's a "get lost!" price.

jsteiger said:

mikefatom said:

...I had a couple issues with one of the two metal shops I ordered the brackets from . Metalwork is a b*tch. The cheaper of the two places ended up with the better brackets  ???.

Click to expand...

Oh, I feel your pain on this. Metal work is a royal pain in the arse!!! Sometimes I think shops shoot out high numbers because some of the stuff we do(however simple we may think it to be) is just to far from their normal products. Who knows for sure. It is sure not as simple as getting some boards produced! That is for sure.

Best, Jeff

Click to expand...

The cheaper metal shop (we will call them shop B to keep it simple) made me prototype run brackets for 1/6 of what shop A (the more expensive one) charged me! Shop B got it right the first time and everything fit perfectly.

On the other hand shop A (supposedly a VERY well respected industrial metal shop with an impressive list of clients) anodized the brackets AFTER the PEM were put in. This resulted in all the PEM nuts falling right out  :-[. Out of 10 brackets that they made, only 1 PEM nut was left and it did not look good. They actually tried to give me the brackets as is, without the nuts reinstalled, pretending that the PEM nuts wasn't part of what was agreed on. I'll keep this short and will just say that I left the place very pissed that day and I am not planning on giving those guys any more business ever!

Shop B had my brackets done in a week and was very professional. They will get another order from me soon enough.

Mike

jsteiger said:

500/51x Blank Proto L-Brackets are finally in stock.



Product info at the store can be found here.

Volker will also have his supply in shortly. It may make more sense to buy from him, depending upon your location

Click to expand...

they finally arrived, looking amazing ;D
customs declared it as "parts for metal furniture" :
EU price is EUR 8,00 each + shipping + 19% german VAT where applicable